National Poetry Day 2015 – Blues Medicine – Hylda Sims

Hylda was one of the Skiffle/Blues pioneers in London in the 1950s. She was part of the City Ramblers and is still playing this style of music in clubs in 2015. This poem or free song, Blues Medicine, is Hylda’s homage to the Blues.

It is about the need for some blues medicine which can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Maybe it is the first Skiffle Rap!

Here is the live performance of Blues Medicine from the radio show with Hylda speaking, Doc Stenson on harmonica and Simon Prager on guitar.

It was recorded live on Jonathan Ballie Strong’s Live Lockdown#3 show on London’s K2K radio in November 2013, in a program I did about the life of the UK pioneer harp player, Cyril Davies.